A Direct Solar-Driven Cnt-Cb@Copper Foam Cured Silica Gel Adsorption Integrated System for Brine Concentration, Drinking Water Production And Refrigeration

Abstract

A direct solar-driven adsorption integrated system for brine concentration (SASBC) was designed and constructed using CNT-CB@copper foam cured silica gel (CNT-CB@CFCS) as the adsorbent. The comprehensive performance of the SASBC on solar energy utilization, adsorption brine concentration, refrigeration and fresh water production had been studied by combining adsorption brine concentration with solar solar energy as the direct-driving heat source. The results indicate that the CNT-CB@CFCS bed of the SASBC can be heated up to 90 ℃ within 40 minutes at an evaporation temperature of 25 ℃ with the illumination intensity of 1.8 kW m-2, which makes the rapid evaporation and concentration of the brine. When the brine reaches into its salinization state (adsorption time ~90 min), the major cation concentration of the brine are concentrated by 3~3.5 times. Moreover, the specific daily water production (SDWP) and specific cooling power (SCP) of the SASBC is 1.04 L kg-1 d-1 and 39.26 W kg-1, respectively. The desorbed fresh water meets the direct drinking water standards set by the World Health Organisation (WHO). The SASBC system designed in this work realizes the integration of direct utilization of solar energy, rapid concentration of brine, efficient fresh water production and refrigeration.

Keywords: Direct solar-driven integrated system, CNT-CB@copper foam cured silica gel, Adsorption brine concentration, Daily water production, Adsorption refrigeration